Baby Porcupine

 

 

 

Is that not the sweetest little prickly face you've ever seen? Actually, they do not have too many sharp quills at this point. Just enough probably but not nearly the array they will have when they age.

This little fella was not afraid of me getting down right infront of him to take a pic. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. I was terribly worried a bald eagle would swoop down and grab him because he was out in the open for a very long time, eating foliage.

A little about Porcupines:

"Although the species of porcupine found in North America always lives among trees, it does not always live in mature forests and may be found in alder thickets along rivers and in dwarfed pine scrub along ridge crests. It is most common where there are rocky ledges and rock piles suitable for dens and stands of aspen, hemlock, and other trees.

Being shortsighted and slow moving, the porcupine is not too difficult to approach once found.

The defensive behaviour of the porcupine is well known though sometimes misinterpreted. If on the ground when danger threatens, the porcupine will make for the nearest shelter, under a rock or log or up a tree, even forsaking its slow walk for a clumsy gallop. If thwarted in such a retreat, it will hump its back, tucking its unprotected head between its shoulders. With all the quills erected, the porcupine will pivot on its front feet and keep its back to the enemy. As it stomps its back feet, it also lashes its tail threateningly. The momentum of the tail may detach loose quills, which fly through the air, giving the impression that they were thrown. " From hww.ca.